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A20 commentary
guardian.co.tt Friday, January 20, 2017
GAMESMANSHIP AND CHILD MARRIAGE
Regrettably, it is uncertain
whether Tuesday's Sen-
ate vote on the Miscellaneous
Provisions (Marriage) Bill 2016
will actually lead to protection
of girls from too-early marriage.
The Bill has to be passed by the
House of Representatives be-
fore it becomes law, and it will
likely be passed now that the AG
has framed it as only needing a
simple majority, which the PNM
can provide.
However, having been passed,
it is likely that a constitutional
case will be kick-started to es-
tablish whether or not consti-
tutional freedoms were violated
and whether or not the AG was
correct to tactically switch from
a three-fifths to simple majority
passage.
No one can tell at this point
whether such technical con-
siderations regarding consti-
tutional law will lead to the
amendments being overturned
or upheld. In the end, it will
become about a battle between
UNC and PNM, and religious
patriarchs versus the state. The
best interest of girls, whether or
not they represent a minority of
marriages, will disappear from
priority.
The UNC, under Kamla Per-
sad-Bissessar, helped to create
this disgusting situation. In
government, the party courted
and relied on religious conserv-
atives, and was unwilling to
risk ire of this small but vocal
segment for a more progressive
approach to women's and girls'
rights. In last Wednesday's de-
bate, they brought in temporary
senators to present perspec-
tives, clearly vetted by the party,
which the wider population
found shocking and to partially
misinformed, particularly in
terms of why the Children's
Act's (2012) "Romeo Clause"
decriminalises adolescent sexu-
al relations.
The UNC's approach was to
friend-up all sides simultane-
ously, thereby showing only su-
preme self-interest. On the one
hand, Persad-Bissessar has said
she herself supports raising the
age of marriage to 18 years old.
On the other, the party brings in
men who oppose that position,
under the guise of inclusion and
representativeness. Such mixed
messaging sparked concern,
certainly in the women's move-
ment, that sending the Bill to a
Joint Select Committee would
lead to it being buried there or
watered down to assuage patri-
archal interests.
Keep in mind that the legal
age for girls to marry is 18 years
old in India and Iraq, and 16
years old in Pakistan and Egypt.
So, let's be clear that there is no
single Hindu, Christian or Mus-
lim perspective on the legitima-
cy of marrying girls at 14 or 16
years old.
It's in this context of the
UNC's unwillingness to do the
best thing for girls that the AG
may have wrongly made his
tactical switch. The fact that the
need for a three-fifths majority
was included in the December
19, 2016 version of the Bill is it-
self a sign that he and the draft-
ers recognised that there were
constitutional implications.
The expediency with which
those paragraphs were removed
was bound to be seized on by
the UNC as the AG playing
politics with law. So, the AG
may have to take his chances
in court, at taxpayers' ex-
pense, risking having this key
amendment overturned on a
technicality, at girls' expense. I
applaud his willingness to push
through this legislation, and
here the UNC has not one moral
leg to stand on, but the AG's
decision has made the process
more politicised and messy.
Speaking of messy moralities,
the UNC is now using language
of "respect for family life"
in its constitutional counter
punch, showing instead no re-
spect for globally-established,
detrimental effects of ear-
ly-marriage on girls, and global
conventions to which we are a
signatory. It is unbelievable that
girls' individual life chances are
still being subordinated to those
of the "family" in a way that
is not applicable to boys, with
party leadership ignoring such
legal inequality.
The Miscellaneous Provisions
(Marriage) Bill 2016 simply
seeks to raise the age of mar-
riage to 18 years old. Women's
organisations have argued that
possible amendments should
have included an exception
allowing both girls and boys
to marry from 16 years old,
with counseling and paren-
tal permission or, instead, a
magistrate's permission given
with these adolescents' capac-
ity, choice and best interest in
mind.
As this debate moves to the
House, the nation must insist
that girls' self-development
and rights are our priority. If
you agree, make those 41 MPs
represent you. This legislation
is overdue.
WOMEN AND CRIME: A REAL ANXIETY IN T&T
JOLENE ROMAIN,
ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
PRACTITIONERS
The murder of Shannon
Banfield in December,
2016 created somewhat of a
nationwide panic and generated
much talk about the safety of
women in T&T. Women seem to
be in the spotlight even more of
lately as prime targets for vio-
lent crime. Perhaps the general
anxiety of our society on this
issue stems from our inclination
to believe that women should
not be associated with anything
negative. Therefore, gruesome
murders, kidnappings, rape and
other violent encounters tamper
with the ideology of femininity,
notwithstanding the fact that
it opposes even the idea of hu-
manity.
Consequently, our society
now seems more guarded about
its female population. Since this
unfortunate incident, there has
even been heightened alertness,
somewhat bordering on para-
noia about women venturing
into Port-of-Spain or to recrea-
tional activities throughout the
country by themselves. Many
women nowadays receive quite
a number of telephone calls
and in-person warnings from
friends and family cautioning
them about venturing out alone
following the aforementioned
murder.
Controversy theories claimed
that Ms Banfield's pretty face
and complexion are what
spurred the popularity of her
death. To others, this argument
lacks depth and cannot be sus-
tainable. Let us consider the
circumstances surrounding her
death: the fact that she walked
into a store with the supposed
intention of shopping, a very
common thing to do and never
walked out, later being dis-
covered in said establishment,
murdered. That could have been
the fate of any woman, as Char-
lotte Street, Port-of-Spain is a
popular shopping destination.
On thinking about the cur-
rent state of affairs regarding
women and crime, this anxiety
is not at all unwarranted, giv-
en recent incidents---the most
recent being the murder of an
eager young woman (Rachael
Ramkissoon) taking an alterna-
tive travel option to secondary
school after missing her usual
mode of transportation.
These incidents not only
leave us with anxiety and a lack
of confidence in ensuring our
safety as women in our daily ac-
tivities, but bring to the fore the
changing scope of crime against
women in our country.
Previously, crime against
women was highlighted mainly
within the context of domestic
violence. Women as victims
of domestic violence is still a
very relevant and prominent
concern. However, women are
now also being featured as vic-
tims of crime with no relation
to domestic affairs. The disap-
pearance of the hairdresser from
South Trinidad last year (Ria
Sookdeo) with little information
to date on her whereabouts, is
featured as proof of this ongo-
ing change.
Observing these crime pat-
terns raises several questions.
The question of police efforts to
restore confidence in the female
population on their safety in
carrying about their daily lives,
is a key one. There has been
some assurance from the police
that Port-of-Spain is safe for
conducting regular activities
after a suspect was charged in
connection with the murder of
the Shannon Banfield.
The fact that many of us are
still very anxious about our
female counterparts venturing
out alone is a clear indication
that full trust regarding safety
has not been restored in the
public domain. Perhaps form-
ing a committee charged with
the responsibility of examining
crimes against women and
creating a policy to treat spe-
cifically with the current crisis
may be a good option to effect
change in the country on this
matter.
The recent spate of crimes
against women has even led
some to question whether there
are undetected serial killers
in our country. Our culture of
revelry usually causes us to cast
aside such suggestions. How-
ever, extending special training
to our police on trends around
serial killers may yield unantic-
ipated results. Also, partnering
with countries where such
crime trends are more popular
would most definitely advance
our crime detection capacity.
Furthermore, there is curi-
osity around whether some of
these developments are related
in any way to human trafficking
particularly as women and girls
have disappeared without much
information forthcoming on
their whereabouts. A newspa-
per article in 2016 revealed that
there is a total of 200 missing
women to date in this country.
Perhaps strengthening crime
research trends may indicate
more conclusively whether or
not our country is now a target
for capturing women for the
purposes of human trafficking.
T&T's anti-trafficking laws
have been enforced, though
not consistently, around sex
trafficking, with women being
imported into this country for
these purposes. However, it
now seems plausible for our law
enforcement officials to explore
the possibility of this trend.
Despite the issues highlight-
ed above, safety is everyone's
business; it should not be
wholeheartedly thrust onto
the government or police, al-
though they play a lead role.
The responsibility is ours as
a country and its genesis is in
the values with which we raise
our children and how much we
cultivate restoration and reha-
bilitation in our land. We must
be cognisant of the fact that re-
gardless of the crime commit-
ted, both victim and offender
originate from among us.
The CISPS is a registered in-
stitution with the Accreditation
Council of Trinidad and Tobago
(ACTT). Tel: 223-6999, 299-
8636, info@caribbeansecurity-
institute.com or www.caribbe-
ansecurityinstitute.com
DIARY OF A MOTHERING WORKER
ENTRY 226